Variety more than quantity of fruit and vegetable intake varies by socioeconomic status and financial hardship. Findings from older adults in the EPIC cohort

•Eating a variety of many fruits and vegetables is critical for healthy aging.•Variety is as important as quantity of fruits and vegetables for disease prevention.•Fruit and vegetable consumption is strongly graded by socioeconomic status.•Variety was strongly patterned by socioeconomic status and by financial hardships.•Economic inequalities were greater in women for fruit and men for vegetable variety. Background: Beyond quantity, variety of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake prevents chronic conditions and is widely recommended as critical to healthful eating. FV consumption is socially patterned, especially for women, but little is known about multiple economic determinants of variety or whether they differ from those of quantity. Objective: To examine socioeconomic status and financial hardships in relation to variety and quantity of FV intakes among older British women and men. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 9580 adults (50–79 years) in the nationally representative EPIC cohort who responded to a postal Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire (1996–2000) and Food Frequency Questionnaire (1998–2002). Variety counted unique items consumed (items/month) and quantity measured total intake (g/day). Results: No consistent differences by any economic factor were observed for quantity of fruits or vegetables, except education in men. Lower education, lower social class and renting were independently associated with lower fruit variety and vegetable variety (p-trend